Motherboard packing up! What to do next..

amd

Had problems starting the last few days and have heard a bit of a noise coming from the case. Opened it up for a quick look to locate the noise and spotted at least 6 capacitors beginning to leak! Been trying to decide whether it's economical to replace the motherboard and processor or should I just bite the bullet and buy all new from somewhere like PC World???

I've upgraded my memory and graphics card in recent months and have just ordered a new wireless router and PCI wireless card for the PC - so have to take this all into account. I'm also happy with my DVD writer and hard drive and I've got all my own windows XP software! Being of the generation who don't chuck stuff out unless necessary I'd rather stick all my own stuff onto a new motherboard - but can't find one that isn't a micro ATX with only 2 PCI slots! I'd rather have new, not used, but need at least 3 PCI slots, AGP and DDR SD ram. I've been searching ebuyer and dabs but can't seem to find what I need. Anyone recommend any other suppliers?

I'm also stumped as to what processor I should be thinking of - they've moved on a bit from my AMD socket A. Is there anything else I should be checking to make sure it's compatible?

All advice greatfully received!

stan747

have a look on ebuyer.com, i'm sure they will have something that will match your spec.
ecs (elitegroup) are quite cheap and reliable boards.
you will also need a thermal pad/paste for moving the cpu/heatsink onto your new board.
be careful handling the old board, some caps contain cyanide, disopse of carefully.

mrtg0525

The problem's going to be the requirement for the AGP slot - I've got a micro-ATX board in this computer here and it does have 3 PCI slots, but it's a PCIe board...

Personally I tend to prefer to select my own quality components, so I wouldn't got down to PC World for another computer but only replace the parts it needs.

amd

Still trawling through ebuyer site. Have never fitted a processor before but have read about it. Stupid question - do the OEM processors come supplied with the fan/heatsink? What extra do you get with the retail packaging?

mrtg0525

amd wrote: »

Still trawling through ebuyer site. Have never fitted a processor before but have read about it. Stupid question - do the OEM processors come supplied with the fan/heatsink? What extra do you get with the retail packaging?

My AMD processor (which was a retail package) did come with the HSF unit. IME, the OEM ones don't so you'd have to buy a one.

Fitting a processor isn't hard, just insert it carefully the right way round and never, ever force it in!

stan747

just move you old cpu onto a new socket a board,
here's one that matches your spec
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MSI-K7T266-PRO-MOTHERBOARD-AMD-ATHLON-SOCKET-A-462_W0QQitemZ370010266750QQihZ024QQcategoryZ31496QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
if you really feel the need for an upgrade you need to consider what you are going to use the pc for, do you do a lot of gaming/video editing/graphics design etc,

post back here and you will get plenty of reccomendations

BillScarab

If you buy a retail boxed CPU it should come with paste and a fan but I would invest in a better aftermarket fand and bett quality paste.

You can still get AGP boards. There are a couple at overclockers another one at Komplett and there seem to be a few at Scan

If you're replacing the motherboard I would recommend a socket 775 board with a Core 2 Duo processor, it would be a massive improvement on your current setup.

EDIT: just realised a lot fo those at scan are for Xeon processors so ignore those. I'd go for the Asrock socket 775 one as it supports AGP and PCI-E.

spakkker

Don't think you'll be able to use ddr mem. on any new m/b.

BillScarab

He'll be able to on the one I posted, that's the point of it, it supports AGP and PCI-E and DDR and DDR2 asrock

Full Spec here http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=4CoreDual-SATA2%20R2.0

Zagu

Another vote for the ASRock.

spakkker

Hi that asrock board does seem to hit all the bells -ide , agp, pci16 ,ddr ,4 pci slots! I would suggest you consider an e2180 cpu-£53 , kind of a cheap core 2 duo thats faster than some slower c2d.